Photographic Memory: Fifty Years of Photography at the National Portrait Gallery

In 2026, the National Portrait Gallery will observe the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of its photographs collection, which now accounts for nearly half of the museum’s total holdings. To mark this milestone, the museum will present “Photographic Memory: Fifty Years of Photography at the National Portrait Gallery.”

Encompassing more than one hundred works, from the daguerreian era to today’s digital age, the exhibition will explore the evolution of photographic portraiture through treasures from the Portrait Gallery’s wide-ranging collection.